Tuesday, June 09, 2009

The Original Gospel of Mark

On April Fool's Day, I suggested that I would be presenting a paper at SBL-New Orleans which would argue that the New Testament was originally written in Latin. Today, I came across a relevant statement included as a subscription to a 17th–18th century Bohairic text of Mark (Horner, Bohairic NT, vol. I, cviii):
ⲉⲩⲁⲅⲅⲉⲗⲓⲟⲛ ⲍⲱⲏⲥ ⲕⲁⲧⲁ ⲙⲁⲣⲕⲟⲛ .....
ⲁϥⲥϧⲏⲧϥ ϧⲉⲛⲧⲁⲥⲡⲓ ⲙⲙⲉⲧⲣⲱⲙⲉⲟⲥ ⲙⲉⲛⲉⲛⲥⲁϯⲁⲛⲁⲗⲩⲙⲯⲓⲥ ⲛⲧⲉⲡⲉⲛⲥⲱⲧⲏⲣ ⲙⲓⲃ ⲛⲣⲟⲙⲡⲓ ⲟⲩⲟϩ ⲁϥϩⲓⲱⲓϣ ⲙⲙⲟϥ ⲛϫⲉⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ ϧⲉⲛϯⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲣⲱⲙⲏ ⲟⲩⲟϩ ⲁϥⲥϧⲏⲧϥ ⲛϫⲉⲙⲁⲣⲕⲟⲥ ⲉϥϩⲓⲱⲓϣ ⲙⲙⲟϥ ϧⲉⲛϯⲡⲁⲛⲧⲁⲡⲟⲗⲓⲥ ⲛⲉⲙϯⲃⲁⲕⲓ ⲣⲁⲕⲟϯ ⲛⲉⲙⲭⲏⲙⲓ...
"(The) Gospel of Life according to Mark
....
Peter wrote it in Latin twelve years after the assumption of our savior and he preached it in Rome, and Mark wrote it and was preaching it in the metropolis and village, Alexandria and Egypt..."

While I do not believe that Mark's gospel was authored in Latin, I am amused by this historical reconstruction of Egypt's patron saint and his gospel. Are there any other parallel subscriptions or marginalia? The use of the Coptic subject marker ⲛϫⲉ- could be suggestive of a Greek Vorlage. One wonders why Mark's gospel would not be preserved more often among early Egyptian manuscripts.

This reminds me of an argument for the authenticity of Post-Mark that was current 25 years ago, but I don't run across anymore:

The Alexandrians adopted Mark as their patron saint, but were always a little insecure about it, he never having been a real apostle and all. Thus the fact that his gospel managed to make it to the Final Four was of great importance to them.

The last few verses of Mark, however, really bothered them. They seemed to imply that true believers would be able to pick up snakes, drink poison, and speak in tongues. When these things didn't happen with any regularity among the Alexandrians, rather than doubting their own salvation, they simply expunged the troublesome verses from their copies of Mark.

The different subscriptions could have arisen independently. If the wording were close enough, then we could try and establish some sort of genetic link which would make this more interesting. The tradition could predate the Medieval period. The question would be, do these other subscriptions have the same pattern of Peter and Mark writing and preaching in Rome and Alexandria respectively?